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Actually, the animation in this episode impresses me. The opening transformation from game/to cartoon is cool, as is the scene where the camera zooms in on Spearow's eye. Today, stuff like that would be done with computers, but when this was made, it had to be done by hand. That impresses me.

† I am a Christian and not ashamed of it! Copy and paste this into your sig if you are too.†

This is the iconic episode which began the Pokemon anime. The animation qualitty is low, but it's still a great episode. There are many funny moments and touching moments. Ash's first meeting with Pikachu was great, he was a newly caught Pokemon ... so it didn't trusted Ash at the time. The scene where Ash was trying to catch a pidgey with his shirt, was funny. I found it odd when Ash's pokedex was automaticly speaking to him. Ash and Pikachu's encounter with those Sparrows is a memorable scene. Ho-Oh's appearance at the end was great.

Started watching the original episodes in order. They're only like 18 minutes without commercials or credits, so I'm just flying by them. I don't remember much of the show for some reason, I guess I never watched it a lot. I definitely remember the first episode though. What a classic.

I've been going ahead to watch the episodes again because one: I don't believe I saw every single episode, two: this includes the banned episodes, and three: why not? For a show full of nostalgia and childhood, I believe I can still understand what it is about Pokémon that we've loved as children. So I'm going to attempt to write my thoughts on every episode as I make that effort to watch it with a story in mind.

The first episode I feel was a strong way to get us into the Pokémon world. Sure, while the pacing was excellent for an episode, more could have been done with it, and it felt a bit clunky with the voices, but I can easily forgive the voices as it's the first episode, and the dubbers haven't settled into their roles yet. Veronica Taylor I feel was able to pull Ash off almost from the start. He's very energetic and excited about his journey, and yet he gets frustrated because it's not like how he thought it would be: he's late getting his Pokémon, all of the ones he wanted to pick were gone, the one he did pick won't listen to him, he has to (recklessly, remember that he's ten and has a lot to learn) do things himself, and it ultimately gets him into huge trouble that almost kills him and Pikachu. But it was never said being a Pokémon trainer was easy and safe. And for that particular, rather subtle tidbit to be in the first episode says a lot about the writing at the time. Sure, the anime does have its flaws in both original and dub, but when I watched this episode and saw that happen, I came to really appreciate the writing more. (It's a shame it doesn't keep this up in the future, but we'll get there when we get there.)

Pikachu may have a particular reason for not liking Ash, and I suppose it was this mystery that made us question (and write fan fics about) why he doesn't like his trainer. But haven't we all had problems like this with our own pets? Perhaps Ash didn't realize that he had to train and gain respect from his Pokémon. He may have thought that all Pokémon obeyed without question from the start, but that could be because Professor Oak himself tames the starter Pokémon for the trainers. So if that's the case, then Ash and most likely the other trainers were misled into believing everything was going to be a piece of cake--which is a little sad when you think about it. But how else are the trainers going to learn for themselves? If each Pokémon has their own unique personality, thus much mean they all have different methods of taming. Ash never exactly thought of this, but he truly did care for Pikachu, and was willing to take the blows of the Spearow for his disobedient Pokémon. It would take a bit while longer before Pikachu came to truly trust Ash, but his bravery (even if a bit stupid) was enough to convince him to give him a chance. If the show's main theme is teamwork, loyalty, and friendship, they really made sure that was the foundation from the start.

Ash was probably a good character for this setting. He's no Red, but at the time did we really want Red? We would've been fine with anyone being the part of the protagonist, honestly, as they were going to be the spokesperson for the world of Pokémon. He's just an ordinary boy who was able to go on a journey, and as Pokémon is a case of escapist fiction, many children his age and younger (if not also slightly older) found it exciting to be able to leave home and be on their own to explore the world. The world of Pokémon has this childlike air to it that is not particularly naďve, but it's full of wonder, curiosity, and optimism. The ending to this episode really shows that in the form of a rainbow and (then-unknown) Ho-oh, and it's a great way to end off the first episode. It's a brilliant way to introduce us to the adventure that is to come, and we as children looked forward to the next episode.

Adults may not have understood what was great about this first episode, but children sure did. Because of how long ago it was, I can't remember why I was so attached to the Pokémon anime from the start, however, I can feel it. It's something I can't quite put into words without coming off as nostalgic or a bit nonsensical, but I suppose I've already given the reason why. It was full of optimism, full of adventure, and most importantly, full of hope. The perfect way to begin a show that sadly has been going unnoticed or is under-appreciated by younger generations.

I can't see myself always rating Pokémon episodes, but this episode does deserve a 10/10 for being strong and well-paced.

Decided to re watch season 1 since they put the episodes on Netflix. A pretty good episode, though a bit dramatic lol.

I recently watched this episode too...makes me think of at least some character development must have happened. Since we see things here like Oak letting Ash in although all of his normal starters were gone. And then he just gives the one pokemon that he thought was difficult to train to the kid who came in late.

Ash's Mom's voice is going to get some getting used to, but I thought he has a good voice himself.

This episode tells a simple story of a boy on a journey with a Pokemon that doesn't listen to him and does it well. I'm glad Pikachu started listening to him after he saved him, the scene was touching.

I liked when Ash tried to get Pikachu into his ball and his mom asked if they were playing catch, that was really funny.

Misty is awesome too, she has enough personality to be interesting but there's still more to her I don't know yet.

Ah, the start of Pokémon. This is one of my favorites for that reason and much more.

I've only seen the dub of this, so take note.

The animation wasn't really good, but I prefer it over the current style. It made the show feel, more anime like to me.

The music, never really payed attention, but it's good.

The storyline was very good, loved how much Pikachu hated Ash at the start and how he was chubby. Then Gary being such a rude guy to Ash, so good. Missed the time when rivals could be rude to ash like that. Then seeing Misty for the first time, on first watch you'd think she's just a COTD with not many lines.

The dub was perfect, except for Veronica Taylor's early voice, it's still cool to hear it though. And the Hindi dub is also good, his VA there did an excellent job. Not problems or complaints from me.

You know, looking back, I'm really happy 4Kids dubbed Pokemon because if they didn't, TPCi would've probably done this to Ash's script writing/dialogue and made me never watch the show altogether-- I'm just doing this to highlight how much his speech patterns have changed in the English dub since the switch occurred:

Ash (4Kids): "Pikachu!! Pikachu, this can't...happen. [Ash holds out a pokéball] Pikachu, get inside. [Pikachu is still frightened] I know you're afraid of going in there, but if you're inside, maybe I can save you. Please, Pikachu, please listen to me and go inside. After that then, after that, just trust me! [the Spearow fly overhead] Spearow(s), do you know I am? I'm Ash from the town of Pallet: I'm destined to be the world's #1 Pokémon master. I can't be defeated by the likes of you. I'm going to capture and defeat you all. You hear me? [looks back at Pikachu] Go inside the Pokéball, it's the only way. Come and get me!"

A couple weeks ago I bought DVDs of the first 26 episodes of the OS, and I thought "this would be a good time to re-live my childhood!" and possibly watch the series as a whole right from the beginning. There's still some episodes from Johto and Hoenn I've never seen before.

I just watched the first three episodes about an hour- hour-and-a-half ago.

I'll say this:
Right in the childhood!

Man, it's been ages since I've last seen these old episodes!

There's so much I liked about this first episode I'd probably be here all night listing them all, so a couple things that stick out in my mind at this very moment:
- I actually forgot how this episode starts in how it starts like the old gameboy games. No really, I totally forgot that happened.
- Misty: "Oh, it's just some kid!" Misty was calling Ash 'kid' before Iris.
- *I just watched an episode of the X and Y series a few days ago, and wow how the voices changed since then. I'm not even complaining. It's interesting how much has changed in this show since the very beginning.
- *That piece of background music that plays when Ash is standing between the Spearow and Pikachu, I felt, fit the mood of the scene pretty good.

* - These are two things about the show as a whole, that when I'm watching them, I usually don't pay any attention to. Only if it's really making itself obvious that I have to pay any amount of attention to.

I adore this episode, I mean how can you not love Pikachu, I love how Ash asks Pikachu to open its mouth to talk and it opens its mouth really wide...

But what I loved was the music during the Spearow bit, Pikachu realised that Ash would really put his life on the line for it, and Pikachu gave a humongous thundershock... I like how Ho-oh shows up too.

But I still wonder to this day why it only shows itself to Ash...hmmm.

I always thought it was strange Ho-oH was even in this episode, until I heard about the sprite data of R/B

One thing I realized after watching this episode again was how I wasn't really invested in Ash's ordeals as a beginner throughout the episode. I felt that something was missing and even though this episode has a legacy, Ash wasn't very interesting as the main protagonist here in my view.

Ash getting chased by Spearows was hilarious. Also found it hilarious that his own Pokedex implied that he was stupid and all the electric shocks Pikachu was spamming. It was really cool when Pikachu fought off all of those Spearow though and that's when the coma theory begins.
8/10

Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill. Quote from the ATG - Muhammad Ali.